Town of Alden

ALDEN - was formed from Clarence, March 27, 1823, and a part of
Marilla was taken off in 1853. It lies upon the E. border of the co., N.E.
of the center. Its surface in the W. is level, and in the E. gently
undulating. It is watered by the head waters of Cayuga and Eleven Mile
Creeks. The soil is a dee, fertile, sandy, gravelly, and clayey loam.
Alden, (p.v.) a station on the B. & N.Y.R.R., contains 2 churches and
has a pop. of 285; Alden Center (p.v.) contains 1 church and 20
houses; and Mill Grove, (p.v.) in the N.W. corner, 18 houses.
Alden (Crittenden p.o.) and Wende are stations on the
N.Y.C.R.R. settlement was commenced in the spring of 1810, by Moses Fenno(1).
Rev. John Spencer conducted the first religious services, in 1811. The first
church (Presb.) was organized in 1813-14. There are now 6 churches in town(2).

(1) Among the first settlers were Joseph Freeman, John Eastabrook, Wm. Snow,
and Arunah Hibbard, who came in 1810; Saml. Slade, James Crocker, Saml.
Huntington, and Jonas Stickney, who came in 1811; and Wm. Dayton, who came
in 1812. The first birth was that of a daughter of Arunah Hibbard; and the
first death, that of Polly Cransaky, in 1812. John Rogers built the sawmill
in 1813 or '14, and the first gristmill, in 1817. Amos Bliss kept the first
inn, and Seth Eastabrook the first store, both in 1816. The first school was
taught by Mehetabel Eastabrook in 1815.

(2) Bap., Presb., Evang. Luth., M.E., and 2 R.C.

J.H. French, Gazetteer of the State of New York (Syracuse, New
York: R. Pearsall Smith, 1860), p. 281 - 282.